


Cora Murphy and the Crossed off Tapestry

by timeformischief



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, F/M, Mystery, Retelling, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:49:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeformischief/pseuds/timeformischief
Summary: Cora Murphy is a Slytherin starting her fifth year at Hogwarts with her best friend Mykel Whittaker. Even though she was determined on spending this year studying for her O.W.L.s in order to achieve her dream career, Cora will find herself dragged into solving a bizarre mystery surrounding the school, hand in hand with her newly found friends: the Weasley twins.
Relationships: George Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. Diagon Alley

Cora Murphy was starting her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Like every year, her parents had dropped her off with a handful of money in front of the Leaky Cauldron, giving her a couple of hours to do all the necessary shopping.

She stepped into the pub, getting a hold of her bag of muggle money, and made her way across the bar with firm steps until she reached the walled courtyard. Cora pulled out her wand and tapped the bricked wall, and as she did so, the bricks started to form a hole in the middle, growing wider and wider until the familiar archway and the cobbled street came into view.

Since another school year was about to begin in a matter of days, Diagon Alley was as full as it could be. Witches and wizards of all ages walked from one place to another making their last-minute purchases. Cora made her way through the crowd, looking around the shops she hadn’t seen in a whole year.

She went by Quality Quidditch Supplies, which had a new broomstick on display: the Firebolt. A crowd of kids were pressing their hands and faces to the glass, wowing in amazement. She had never fully understood the amazement Quidditch caused on everybody. Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blott’s…until she finally reached the snow-white building that towered over the other small shops: Gringotts. She moved into the building in a fast pace, walking past the long counter until she reached the first goblin that wasn’t attending anyone already.

“Good morning. I’d like to exchange muggle money, please.” said Cora in the most pleasant tone she could. The goblin barely looked at her as he extended his palm, into which she placed the bag of money she had been taking a hold of. He turned on his heels and left his post, returning a couple of minutes later with the same bag, yet it looked much heavier. Galleons were a lot heftier than pounds.

“Thank you.” said Cora with a bright smile, to which the goblin replied with a mumbled “yeah, yeah”, still not looking at her.

She returned to the cobbled street, looking to both sides in an effort to find her friend, Mykel Whittaker. She walked away from Gringotts in the opposite direction she had come from.

She passed the secondhand robe shop and reached Ollivander’s, which had a long queue of mostly first years on its door, waiting for their turn to get chosen by their wands. She smiled at the memory of her first day, still confused and amazed by the discovery that she was the first witch in her family. “Ah, yes. Aspen wood with a unicorn hair core. Twelve and a quarter inches, and unbending flexibility. A brilliant wand for a brilliant little witch.”, had said Ollivander, and even though she had had no idea what he had been talking about, she had felt quite special.

Seeing as there were no signs of Mykel, Cora chose to return to the Leaky Cauldron, hoping that Mykel would arrive at Diagon Alley through the same pathway she had. She had just set foot on the pub when she recognized a rather large group of redheads standing in the middle of the room. As she got closer, she saw that Harry Potter was also there. Fred Weasley had elbowed Percy Weasley, his older brother, out of the way, bowing to Harry in a stiff kind of way. As she was reaching the group, George Weasley pushed his brother to a side, and got a hold of Harry’s hand, shaking it vigorously. Cora could just make out the words coming out of George’s mouth. “Marvelous. Absolutely spiffing.”

“That’s enough now.” she heard Mrs. Weasley say. As Cora passed them by, she let out a soft chuckle, coming to the realization that the twins were making fun of Percy, as they had taken as their hobby to do so since the first year of Hogwarts. Probably long before that.

She finally reached an empty table where a copy of the Daily Prophet rested upon. Cora picked it up in an attempt to find some entertainment while she waited, as well as to get an update on the wizarding world she had spent three months away from.

The front page showcased a black and white picture of a sunken-faced man with long mucky hair whose eyes wondered from side to side in a demented sort of way. He looked strangely familiar. The title, in bold big letters, read BLACK STILL AT LARGE. As Cora read the article, she began to realize the reason she recalled that face. Sirius Black had been on the muggle news too; she remembered her mother’s fearful look as the news displayed a still version of the same picture. Cora was slightly shocked, her eyebrows frowned, since it wasn’t usual for a magic-related topic to reach the muggle world. She was almost finished with the article when a finger tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to flinch and turn.

“Good to see you too, Cora.” Mykel’s serene yet playful voice filled her ears. Instead of answering, Cora stood up and gave her best friend a tight hug. She was beyond grateful that Mykel was a muggle born just like her, allowing them to talk on the telephone every week during the summer, or else she would have gone completely mad. However, this had not been enough at all for Cora, who had missed Mykel dearly.

“How have you been?” said Cora in a sweet voice, still holding Mykel tight. He answered with a soft chuckle.

“Cora, we talked three days ago.” He softened the grip on her, and she finally let go.

“Well I am not as lucky as you are, with three siblings around. It has been three long days merely accompanied by my own thoughts. Well, and my parents. I love them, don’t get me wrong, but they are not precisely the entertaining type.”

“And neither are your thoughts.” said Mykel, his lips forming a thin line, a mocked sympathetic expression on his face. At this, Cora laughed and elbowed him lightly in the stomach. Mykel laughed too as he ruffled her short black hair lightly.

Mykel had thin lips, hypnotizing blue eyes Cora had always been jealous of, having brown eyes herself, and a hair she could only describe as a “Beatle haircut”. He was hardly taller than her, although Cora was pretty tall herself, and he always had a slightly chaotic look.

“Are you trying to copy my hairstyle? You know this is impossible to achieve, right?” he pointed at his hair as he said that.

“I would never dream of it.” Cora had cut her hair short merely a month ago, but she had already come to the conclusion that she would never wear it long again. She felt more like herself than she had ever had.

Cora and Mykel passed the Weasleys on their way out of the Leaky Cauldron onto Diagon Alley. Since Mykel had to exchange his money at Gringotts, Cora proposed that she went to Scribbulus Writing Instruments while he went to the bank and then met again afterwards to do the rest of the shopping.

They walked together until they reached the stationery shop, and dedicating her a half-smile, Mykel continued walking.

Cora reached the tiny shop’s closed door, giving an indecisive knock. The door creaked as it opened, and a sweet-looking old lady, standing behind the counter, raised her head from the newspaper she was reading, which Cora presumed to be the Daily Prophet. Cora let out a quick and a little too loud “hi”, to which the woman chucked softly. She didn’t quite understand why small places made her more nervous than big ones. There was something about being in a such a confined place with an unknown person that made her feel uncomfortable, and kind of observed, even if the lady seemed perfectly nice.

Cora walked between two of the dark wooden shelves, that were so crooked she feared they would drop all their contents at any minute. She took a close look to the different quills that filled the shelves, trying to find one that suited her taste. She was always quite picky with all her stationery, feeling that the more she liked the materials she was working with, the easier it would be to do her schoolwork, especially considering the year that was ahead of her.

When she finally chose a few of her taste, she turned to the next corridor to find the ink where, to her surprise, she found Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, leaning towards the ink shelf, his eyes fixed merely millimeters away from one of the bottles. His white hair was as tangled as ever, and his mustache seemed even more unkept than usual. Cora had never met a more reckless person in his life: Professor Kettleburn had lost over the course of his career as a teacher both his legs and one of his arms, having more prostheses than actual limbs. If she didn’t know him well enough to know he was as sweet as they come, Cora would be terrified of him.

“Professor Kettleburn!” said Cora happily, glad to be with someone familiar in the tiny shop. Her words, however, startled the concentrated man, making him jump back and causing a clanking noise from his metallic limbs.

“Cora!” he said surprised. “Oh no need to call me Professor anymore, dear. I’m out for good. I spoke to Dumbledore, and we both agreed it was best for me to leave before I lost my only remaining limb. I’ve taken a like on it, you know. Would like to keep it.”

“What? You’re leaving? But prof- I mean, Silvanus, it’s O.W.L.s year for us. You can’t leave now.”

“Oh, I am sure you’ll find your new Professor quite suitable for the job. Yes, yes, very good indeed.” This last part he whispered, and he seemed to say it more to himself than to Cora, an odd expression on his face. Then again, there was nothing normal about that man.

“Well”, he raised his regular hand and picked up the ink bottle he had been staring at so profoundly, holding it against his chest. “It was nice to get a chance to see you. I hope you do well on your exams.” He started to walk away from her, making his way to the counter. “Goodbye!”

Cora smiled at him as he walked away and then turned back to the shelf, looking for her favorite ink. Once she had it, she reached the counter and paid for everything before going back outside to look for Mykel.

She found him right outside the shop, a bag of money on one hand and a piece of parchment on the other, which Cora recognized as the shopping list Hogwarts sent them every year.

“Guess who I came across in Scribbulus.” said Cora as they walked into the store right next to it, Flourish and Blott’s, to buy the necessary schoolbooks. Mykel replied with an inquisitive look, which was enough for Cora to continue. “Professor Kettleburn. Or Silvanus, as we can call him now. He retired.”  
Mykel raised his eyebrows. “Really? That’s a shame. He was quite a good teacher. Mad, for sure. But good.”

Mykel unfolded the shopping list and started reading out loud each and every book, leaving enough time in-between for Cora to find it and get two copies of it. When they finally had all of them, they got in line in front of the counter and waited for their turn.

After conversing with Mykel for a few minutes, or rather talking while Mykel listened, Cora realized Armelle Carrington, a blond plump Ravenclaw student from their year, was standing right in front of them.

“Armelle! Good to see you!” said Cora excitedly. Armelle turned around to face her, and Cora felt a slight envy rise on her chest. Armelle’s perfect features had always made Cora a little jealous, not to mention the fact that she was the smartest person in their year. However, Cora always tried to push those feelings down, for Armelle had always been really nice to her.

“Oh, hello Cora. Mykel.” She gave them both a sweet smile. Two women who were standing to each side of Armelle had turned around as well. “These are my moms, Nora and Iris. Moms, these are Cora and Mykel, they are in Slytherin.” It was so obvious that Armelle’s moms were muggles, not only because of their clothes but also due to the confused look they gave Armelle to the word ‘Slytherin’. “I’ve told you before. It’s one of the houses at Hogwarts.” They seemed to recall this information, for their confused expression turned into a slight frown. Apparently, Slytherin’s bad reputation had reached their ears too, and she hoped it hadn’t been Armelle who had told them.

“So good to meet you.” said Cora, feeling the urge to change their mind about her house. “It’s really nice of you to accompany Armelle to Diagon Alley. My parents are muggles too, and they refuse to come here, not even on my first year. Not that they have anything against wizards, of course. I think they just feel out of place. Which I don’t think you are. Out of place, I mean.” Mykel gave her a soft pat on the back in an attempt to tell her that she was rambling, as she always did when she got nervous.

“Um, what do your parents work as?” said Nora, clearly trying to bring the conversation into something she was familiar and comfortable with.

“My parents are both teachers,” Mykel had taken over the conversation, to which Cora felt extremely grateful, still feeling slightly embarrassed. “and her mother is a doctor and her father, a writer.”

“I am a doctor as well. My wife is an engineer.” said Iris shortly, and then silence fell over the group. Cora opened her mouth a few times to say something but realized that what she was about to say made no sense at all and that, even though she felt uncomfortable, silence was a better option.

Luckily, it only took a few more seconds for Armelle’s turn to buy her books. She paid and, with a sweet smile, closely followed by her mothers, left the building. Cora let out a deep sigh. She wasn’t good at dealing with awkward silences. Mykel, on the other hand, looked completely unbothered by what had just happened.

They paid for their pile of books and when they were heading out of the store, Cora saw Kettleburn sitting on a crooked stool, he’s eyes fixed on the book resting on his lap. She chose not to interrupt him and left the store, Mykel right behind her.


	2. Prefect Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I know these first few chapters barely have any Fred and George content, but I really want this story to have a believable pace, as well as to develop the characters I made up for it. I promise Fred and George are close and once they come they are here to stay. Meanwhile, I hope you bare with me.  
> Enjoy! :)

Cora leapt out of the car and went to open the boot while her mom and dad, Amelia and Jack, hurried after her. She pulled her school trunk hastily out of the car, which was way heavier than she had anticipated, causing her to drop it. It made a loud noise and popped open, all her possessions spilling out, making Cora grunt in distress.

“Honey, haste makes waste.” Cora was barely listening to her mom while she put everything back in a jumble. Amelia made an attempt to pick up what Cora was throwing inside the case. “Cora, your robes are going to be full of wrinkles if y-”

“Mom, now it’s not the time!” Cora said dropping everything for a moment and staring indignantly at her mother, causing Amelia to step back in surprise. “Unless you are willing to take me all the way to Hogwarts yourself, we need to hurry!”

Her father quickly went to get a trolley for them while her mother started taking the rest of her possessions out of the car, looking around nervously, for she knew it was quite out of the ordinary to be carrying cauldrons and an owl in the middle of King’s Cross station.

Jack returned at the same time Cora slammed the school trunk shut. They threw everything on the trolley and raced towards platform 9 and ¾, praying silently that the train hadn’t left the station yet.

To Cora’s surprise, her best friend Mykel and his whole family were waiting right between platforms nine and ten. His parents, Chris and Ella, his two older sisters, Ada and Mia, and his little brother Jacob were all looking around, clearly searching for something. When Ada met eyes with Cora, she pointed at her excitedly and tapped Mykel on the shoulder, causing him to turn and give a deep sigh of relief. Cora hurried to meet them, closely followed by her parents.

“Cora! What the hell happened?” Mr. Whittaker reproached his language, but Mykel didn’t mind him. “C’mon, we need to get in the station now, or else we’ll miss the train.”

Cora gave her parents a quick hug while both of them imparted the same pieces of advice they did every year (“behave”, “study hard”…), but Cora was barely listening as she quickly waved goodbye to Mykel’s family and hurried after him towards the dividing barrier between both platforms.

Seconds later, Cora and Mykel were standing in front of the familiar train that took them to school every year, the Hogwarts Express, which was whistling loudly, alerting the whole 9 and ¾ station that there wasn’t much time left.

With great difficulty, they hurried to get their possessions out of their trolleys and onto the wagon. Before they could get in, the train slowly started moving. Cora and Mykel looked at each other, and without much time to think, hopped inside the moving door, leaving the empty trolleys in the middle of the station and hoping somebody would return them to its place for them.

They both took a deep breath. It had been a closed call.

“Why did you wait for me? You could’ve missed the train!” Cora was glad that his friend had done so, but she would have felt really guilty if Mykel hadn’t been able to take the Hogwarts Express because of her.

However, Mykel merely shrugged. “I didn’t really feel like being at Hogwarts without you.”

They then proceeded to search for an empty compartment, but soon realized that being the last ones to get on the train had its disadvantages. They ended up settling for a compartment where Armelle Carrington and her friend Evira Willow were sitting.

“Hey Armelle, Evira, do you mind if we sit with you? All the others are full.” said Cora as soon as she opened the door, smiling hopefully at the pair of them.

They both smiled back and muttered a “no problem at all”. Cora and Mykel placed their trunks and the rest of things in the luggage rack. Cora placed her owl’s cage on the seat next to her, and pulled some owl treats from her bag. The barn owl moved excitedly in the cage at the sight of the treats.

“Poor Aphrodite, I haven’t paid any attention to her all morning. Has been carried hastily from one place to another.” said Cora as she fed the eager owl.

Armelle chuckled. “You named your owl after a Greek goddess?” Cora nodded. “That’s actually quite cool.”

The door suddenly slid open. Aedan Twig, a very pale and thin Slytherin in their grade, was standing there, looking slightly agitated.

“Cora, I have been looking for you all over the train. We have to go into the prefect carriage. They are waiting for us.”

“Shit.” muttered Cora as she got up. She had completely forgotten about what her prefect letter said about their duties on the train. She turned around to face Mykel, apologetically “I’m so sorry. I’ll come back as soon as I can.” Mykel looked slightly disappointed, but he did not say anything. “Can you take care of Aphrodite while I’m gone?”

To this, Mykel nodded slightly, and as Aedan begged her to hurry, she followed him out of the compartment. When they arrived at the prefect carriage, fourteen people were already waiting there in an awkward silence. Cora immediately recognized Percy Weasley, who she assumed would be Gryffindor’s Head Boy; Donald Juniper, Slytherin’s Head Boy; and Camelia Larch, Slytherin’s Head Girl. She also saw some familiar faces from her own grade, even though none of them were from her own house.

“You are late.” said Percy reproachfully. Aedan’s pimpled face went slightly red. 

“It wasn’t his fault. He was looking for me. I totally forgot about this.” said Cora while she took a seat next to Olivia Nettle, a Gryffindor girl. Aedan sat next to her, giving her a barely noticeable smile as a thank-you.

Even though there was one Head Boy and Girl for each house, Percy did most of the talking. Camelia tried to take the lead a couple of times, but Percy interrupted her every time after a few seconds, so she ended up giving up and letting him have his moment. Cora understood why Fred and George would constantly make fun of him. She had only spent half an hour with him, and he was already getting on her nerves.

“…so, if you see anyone breaking any of the rules, you are allowed to take points of their house without consulting a teacher, as well as carry out punishments. I expect complete earnestness from all of you. Being a prefect is an honour and a serious matter, so I hope th-”

“Percy, I think they get it.” Camelia interrupted his speech, and everyone seemed glad about it. “Okay, you can either go back to your own compartments or stay here. You should patrol the corridors every once in a while, too. We’ll keep in touch.” And with that, she stood up and left the carriage, followed slowly by other prefects and Head of Houses. Cora decided to do a short patrol before heading back to her compartment, hoping that would be enough for the rest of the trip.

She walked along the corridors, taking discreet looks into the compartments to see if anyone was doing anything out of the ordinary. She was heading back with Mykel after feeling that she had done enough already, when she heard an uproar of laughter coming from one of the compartments. She took a look through the window and saw a group of fifth year Gryffindors, Fred and George Weasley among them, pointing their wands at each other and throwing seemingly stupid jinxes. Cora laughed and looked at both her sides. Percy was walking slowly towards where she was standing, looking carefully inside each compartment. Cora doubted for a second, but slid the door open, causing the whole compartment to become completely still and quiet. They all stared at her.

“Your brother Percy is heading this way, so I would advise you to fix those jinxes before he sees it. Don’t think he will be too happy about it.” She said confidently.   
Nobody spoke, and Cora raised her eyebrows, slightly annoyed by the lack of response. “Alright. Goodbye”. She turned around hurriedly and had almost closed the door when she heard one of the twins speak. 

“Thanks.” said the voice. Cora looked up at the room. “For the heads up.” This time, Cora saw it had been George who had spoken. She gave him a pleased look and pulled the door shut.

Cora had just set foot in her compartment when the lights started to flicker. Armelle, Evira and Mykel, who had been in deep conversation, stopped talking and looked at Cora, confused.

“I’m not doing it.” she said as she raised her arms. The train suddenly slowed down, causing Cora to lose balance. She swiftly grabbed the door on an attempt to keep herself from falling, but the train’s abrupt stop made it an impossible job. She fell on the floor, quickly followed by the rack’s luggage, that missed her by inches. The lights went completely out.

“What the…” Mykel grabbed Cora’s arm and helped her incorporate herself. Armelle stood up and popped her head out of the compartment. Confused voices could be heard all along the corridor.

“Get back inside your compartments! Now! We will resume the journey in no time. Please, close your doors.” It was Percy’s voice that was giving them these orders, but Cora could make out other voices, probably from other Head of Houses, saying the exact same thing.

Armelle did as she was told, and they sat in silence for a while. Cora kept looking out of the door’s window, and at some point, she believed to see a black shadowy figure pass swiftly across the corridor, but as nobody else in the room seemed to notice, she kept quiet.

It took a while for the lights to turn on again, and some more for the train to start moving. As soon as it did, Armelle got out of the compartment like half the carriage did, and the rumours started spreading.

“Apparently a dementor got inside the train and tried to kiss Harry Potter.” said Armelle as soon as she got back in the carriage. Mykel frowned at this, but Cora had already read enough about dementors to know what that meant.

“Dementors are the creatures that guard Azkaban.” Mykel was about to ask a question, but Cora continued. “A dementor’s kiss means that they suck the soul out of you. If they do that, you are worse than dead.” Mykel closed his mouth, since Cora had clearly solved his question, but opened it again.

“But what are they doing here, then? And what are they doing after Harry Potter?” to this, Cora shrugged and looked at Armelle, who did the same thing. While Armelle told the whole story about the dementor’s attack, the four of them changed into their Hogwarts robes.

At last, the train reached Hogsmeade station. They all picked up their things, most of which were still on the floor, and they got off. 

“Firs’ years this way” they heard the familiar voice of Hagrid, the gamekeeper, calling the nervous first years to take them across the lake, since it was tradition to do so.

Cora and Mykel, followed by Armelle and Evira, walked out onto a rough mud track where a handful of horseless carriages awaited to take them up to the castle.  
Hogwarts looked as beautifully intimidating as always. Cora followed the crowd of students that walked towards the entrance of the building, barely paying any attention to where she stepped, until Mykel pulled her robes to stop her from walking into a wall, grinning at her.

They walked across the entrance hall towards the Great Hall, and waving Armelle and Evira goodbye they approached the Slytherin table.

A few minutes later, the first years walked in, looking terrified. Cora and Mykel where in deep conversation about the dementor’s attack, barely paying any attention while the Sorting Hat sang its song and only looking up to applaud when a new student was sorted into Slytherin.

When Dumbledore stood up, however, their conversation broke off and all their attention went to lay on him.

“Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…” he stopped for a second to clear his throat and continued, “As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business.”

Dumbledore’s expression gave away he wasn’t too happy with the idea.

“They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises – or even Invisibility Cloaks.” Cora frowned, for she had never heard about the existence of such thing. “It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects,” at this, Cora sighed, for even though she knew being a prefect was good for her career, she felt no desire of dealing with her new acquired responsibilities. “and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors.”

Dumbledore stayed quiet for a few seconds, waiting for the message to sink in.

“On a happier note,” he continued, “I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.  
“First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher”. The room clapped unenthusiastically, for the teachers of that subject hadn’t had a good reputation the last few years at Hogwarts. One had turned out to be a He-who-must-not-be-named follower, the other a complete idiot.

“As our second new appointment, well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs.” Cora and Mykel looked at each other in complicity, since they already knew about Kettleburn’s retirement. “However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties.”  
Dumbledore had barely finished the sentence when the Great Hall exploded in an applause, which would have been as quiet as Professor Lupin’s if it wasn’t for the clamour coming from the Gryffindor table. 

Cora looked at them and saw that Fred and George Weasley had even stood up. George was clapping and cheering loudly while Fred jumped up and down, grabbing his little brother, Ron, by the shoulders and making him move violently. Cora couldn’t help but laugh.

When the clapping finally died out, Dumbledore continued. “Well, I think that’s everything of importance. Let the feast begin!”

The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink, and Cora then realized how hungry she actually was. They both ate in silence, and when the feast came to an end, Cora stood up swiftly and went to lead the first years down to the dungeons and through the labyrinth of halls, with Camelia Larch right after them, explaining the students how to get there without getting lost.

Finally, they reached the bare, stamp stone wall where the Slytherin common room hid.

“Okay! Everybody listen up!” said Camelia. “The new password is Felix Felicis.” Cora laughed at the fact that Snape, the head of Slytherin and the Potions teacher, had chosen a potion’s name as their password. Meanwhile, the concealed stone door slid open. 

“Now,” continued Camelia, “don’t forget it unless you want to spend the night on this corridor. I warn you; it gets really cold at night.”

Cora’s favourite spot had always been her common room. The same stone walls from the corridor made up the room, and greenish lamps hanged in chains from the ceiling. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of her, and multiple high backed, velvety green chairs filled the room. Despite looking slightly intimidating at first, the room was actually really warm and beautiful, and the windows gave quite a unique view of the depths of the lake.

Hugging Mykel goodnight, Cora followed her fellow Slytherin girls up to their room: Magnolia Gerble, Indigo Dovetail, Amanda Burton, and Lelia Lyptus. Even though she had never really bonded with them as much as she probably should have, they had always been really nice to her, which was more than Mykel could say about his roommates.

Her trunk was already awaiting at the foot of her bed. The sheets were the same velvety green as the chairs downstairs, and the best part of it all was the green, opaque curtains that surrounded the bed, giving her as much privacy as she could hope for in a room shared with four other girls. 

Cora changed into her pyjamas and after saying goodnight to her roommates, she picked up a book from her trunk and closed the curtains of her bed. She always brought a couple of muggle books with her since, for some reason, wizards hadn’t really developed fiction, which she found kind of ridiculous since she thought they would be much better than muggle books.  
She had barely read a couple of pages when a consuming fatigue took over her body, causing her to fall in a deep sleep.


End file.
